new to balls

hello everyone, I'm new here and i just thought I'd introduce myself. i haven't been keeping reptiles very long (got my first about two years ago) i have a total of four snakes and one water dragon.
last December my cousin emailed me asking if I'd take his 5 yr old ball python because he was sick of it and he's also going to Germany for the summer. so i happily said yes. I'm considering Mitch to be a rescue because when i got him he had a bunch of old shed on him that my cousin said had been there for about a month. I took him home and quickly peeled off the bad shed as much as i could and he shed again a few weeks after that. (not in one piece but its all off) he seemed slightly dehydrated and his cage was filthy. but i think i've been doing a pretty good job of taking care of him.
sorry for the long read but i just thought I'd introduce myself and Mitch.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ristmas018.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ristmas009.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ristmas021.jpg

thanks for looking :D
questions and comments welcome
p.s. About how long should a five year old male be?

:welcome: he's purrrty, A five y/o male under optimate living conditions should be around I'm guessing 5ft, I have a 4y/o old male who's only 500g and a little over 3 ft (they said he was a picky eater and only fed him once a month, but now that he's on a 5 day schedule and doing great he's starting to gain weight slowly but surely :)

Hello! Nice pictures.. I can't tell from the first picture, but it looks like his eye has a slight indent or possibly eye caps from a previous shed, I would bump the humidity up a bit.. or it could just be the light :oops:

None the less, congrats! It's a nice looking snake..

Goodluck!

Today 06:47 AM
llovelace Re: new to balls

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he's purrrty, A five y/o male under optimate living conditions should be around I'm guessing 5ft


i never seen a 5ft ball yet. i have 2 a little over 4ft that are 8 and 10 years old. they are unsexed for now but i asume they are males. they will be sexed next week.

Though BPs technically really never quit growing, I woud think that a 5 year old male, under optimum feeding conditions would be very close to full grown....about as full grown as that individual snake is going to get, anyway. If his conditions have been sub par for a while, you may see him put on some weight under your care.

Welcome to the Form, and good job on taking in the BP.

Ball pythons typically reach 4 feet (1.2 m) in length; occasionally there are specimens that reach 5 feet (1.5 m).

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Originally Posted by llovelace

Ball pythons typically reach 4 feet (1.2 m) in length; occasionally there are specimens that reach 5 feet (1.5 m).

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Females more likely than males.. From what I have read, males generally top out between 3 and 4ft.

I don't know about you guys' snakes, but Vincent Vega is just barely a year old and he's 43" long. That's 3 1/3 feet, and he's still growing! I don't over feed, just feed about every 10 days. It's crazy how big he's getting!!!

Edit: Sorry, this has nothing to do with the post, just posting how big mine is at only a year old.